Book Review-True-Colours

True Colours

by

Kristin Hannah

 

True Colours was my first novel written by Kristin Hannah, however, I’m sure that it will not be my last.

True Colours revolves around a family whose ancestors were the founders of a small town in Washington State, USA, and the family is highly respected within this town.

The off-spring whose lives we follow are three strong-willed sisters.  All three have differing personalities, different strengths and different weaknesses, as would be found in any family.  And it is the weaknesses and strengths of sisters, Winona, Aurora and Vivi Ann that makes True Colours so believable.

Vivi Ann, the youngest of the trio, marries Dallas against her father’s wishes.  Many of the locals were not happy with her choice of husband and made life difficult for them.  So, when a local identity was murdered all were quick to point the finger and subsequently convict Dallas, who claimed innocence.

I found this a thoroughly enjoyable story, just for the story itself and also because I could identify with a major section of the plot.  I spent the last six years of my working life teaching in a maximum security correctional facility.

Definitely a solid four star read.

At the time of writing Goodreads readers

Goodreads readers have rated 

True Colours an average of 3.92 stars,

from 40,262 ratings and 3,078 reviews.

I rated

True Colours

a solidread.

True Colours

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

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Book Review-Meant-To-Be

 

Meant To Be 

(Button Jar  #3)

by

Fiona McCallum

(Goodreads Author)

Meant To Be carries where book 2 in the series left off. The main difference being that Meant To Be spans around a year, although that does include several months with the turn of a page.

Settling back into the farm with Jake sees Emily focussing on rebuilding her dream cottage, only not to be a bed and breakfast as initially planned.  Also in Meant To Be we finally see Emily standing up for herself, making her own decision.  Although she does still procrastinate and rely on friends and neighbours.  No spoilers…

David and Barbara are still her best friends an Emily comes to their rescue when they are facing a tough period in their lives and a little earlier Emily realises that she is not as alone as she first thought as local townsfolk rally to help with some of her projects.

Again, narrator Jennifer Vuletic must receive accolades for her narration of Meant To Be.  She has a remarkable vocal range assuming she provide all character voices.  I have commented more than once that a narrator can make or break an audiobook.

Fiona McCallum’s books are an easy read, set in Australia and often it is easy to identify with, or remember someone who was ‘just like that’ in my home town.

I like reading/listening to, Australian authors and stories and as previously mentioned Jennifer Vuletic is brilliant in making Wattle Creek come alive.

.

Goodreads readers have rated

Meant To Be 

an average of 

3.95 stars

from 320 ratings and 37 reviews 

 I have rated 

Meant To Be

a solidread.

Meant To Be 

can be purchased online at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-A-French-Connection

A French Connection

(Broken Vows Trilogy Book 3)

by

Marty Langenberg

Should you have previously read this review my apologies. 

I cannot find a review for ‘A French Connection’ anywhere on my blog,

however I read it in mid 2018.

I read A French Connection not long after I returned from my second visit to France and although that trip to France did not see Paris and the Palace of Versailles on my itinerary, they were definitely a major part A French Connection (The Broken Vows Trilogy, #3) by Marty Langenberg.

With memories of Paris and Versailles (during my first visit) still deeply etched in mind A French Connection had my attention in the first few pages.

A French Connection sees Pennie and her son (Daniel) moving to Paris together with her friend Chris, because of the latter’s desire to further his career opportunities through study at the ISIPCA (Institut Supérieur International du Parfum), the world-famous school for people looking for a career in Perfume, Cosmetics and Food Flavours.

A French Connection has a strong link to The Baby Farm (Book 2 of the Trilogy) with a bad guy surfacing and up to no good in Paris. While the bad guy may provide a link between two books, his appearance is not the crux of the story.   A French Connection revolves around how these three survived in Paris.

If this happens to be the first time reading a review of mine, please consider reading the Broken Vows trilogy and novella in sequence. A French Connection could be read as a standalone novel, however, there are characters that ‘pop up’ (for lack of a better phrase) briefly, or not so briefly, in A French Connection and all are thoroughly introduced in early books.

When trying to liken Marty’s work to another author, the first name which came to mind was James Patterson. Both authors produce fast paced, interesting and easy reads. I am fairly confident that if you are a James Patterson fan, as am I, you will enjoy the Broken Vows Trilogy.

I hope Marty has another story in the pipeline as I am enjoying the other side of a former work colleague.

Finally, I must declare that I know and worked with Marty

for several years before he retired.

However, I believe this has not clouded my review.

 

Definitely a

read.

A French Connection

can be purchased on-line at 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Kobo, OverDrive

 

Book Review-Time-Will-Tell

 

Time Will Tell 

(Button Jar  #2)

by

Fiona McCallum

Still small town Wattle Creek, Time Will Tell picks up where Saving Grace left off.  In fact both books only cover a period of about two months.

Emily struggles financially as she was bullied into signing a less than desirable financial settlement by husband John.  She regrets not consulting a lawyer and then repeats the same, or similar, mistake several more times.  In fact those times I found her decision making extremely frustrating.

Before the demise of her marriage, Emily had dreamed of opening a B&B in a small stone cottage on the farm, until John razed it to the ground.  This dream continued with her new home; however she was only renting, struggling and worrying about her finances, or lack thereof.

An option to purchase her rental, on good terms, was too good to pass and all seemed to be looking up, until….

Tragedy and a new love develop roughly, very roughly, about the same time.  Will the new love work out?  Only time will tell.

Again Narrator Jennifer Vuletic is to be showered with kudos for her narration and her character voices which aids greatly in identifying each character and therefore, the overall enjoyment of Time Will Tell.

Time Will Tell is book two of the Button Jar Trilogy and, therefore, is not my first nor will it be my last review of Fiona McCallum’s offerings.

If you enjoy Australian fiction, you will enjoy Fiona McCallum’s work.

Goodreads readers have rated

Time Will Tell 

an average of 

3.93 stars

from 415 ratings and 56 reviews 

 I have rated 

Time Will Tell

a solidread.

Time Will Tell 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-Saving-Grace

 

Saving Grace 

(Button Jar  #1)

by

Fiona McCallum

Set in small town Wattle Creek, Saving Grace tells the story of Emily who marries John, the wealthy farmer’s son, and is supposed to live happily ever after.  It takes Emily three years to discover suitor John and husband John are divides apart.

Fortunately, or unfortunately it does not take her that long to realise the she does not want him to be father of her children.

She leaves John after he fires a shot at her only friend on their farm, her newly acquired Border Collie pup, Grace, who was out doing what Border Collie pups do…looking at some sheep.

Emily’s mother disapproves of her marriage breakdown as much as she approved her daughter ‘catching’ the wealthy farmer’s son.  Fortunately a new friend Barbara lends her the support she needs and helps set up a new home.

Narrator Jennifer Vuletic has to be applauded for her narration and her character voices.   Jennifer made the characters come to life.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Saving Grace and could identify with some of the small town issues attributed to Wattle Creek.

 

Saving Grace is not my first nor will it be my last as Saving Grace is Book one of a Button Jar Trilogy.  If you enjoy Australian fiction, you will enjoy Fiona McCallum’s offerings.

Goodreads readers have rated

Saving Grace

an average of 

3.81 stars

from 630 ratings and 79 reviews 

 I have rated 

Saving Grace

a solidread.

Saving Grace 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-The-Farmer’s-Wife

 

The Farmer’s Wife 

(Jillaroo #2)

by

Rachael Treasure

Read: May 28, 2015

As you can see it has been a while since I read The Farmer’s Wife.  However most of my review was written at the time of reading.

The Farmer’s Wife was described to me as ‘chick lit’…and to a degree it was.  It was probably the first book I have read in which lead roles are female.

However, I enjoyed listening to this story and could relate to much of it after spending fifty years on a farm.  It’s not all about farming and at some points I was thinking ‘we could skip that’ but was enjoyable.

I found that I was familiar with some  of the towns regions mentioned int The Farmer’s Wife.  In my opinion this always makes a book a better read/listen.

I will look out for more of Rachel Treasure’s books.

A three and a half star (for the rural setting) read.  However, if you are not inclined to rural settings you may not enjoy this book.

On August 06, 2018

Goodreads readers have rated

The Farmer’s Wife 

an average of 

3.77 stars

from 594 ratings and 75 reviews 

 A solidread.

The Farmer’s Wife 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-Hammer-of-God-Greig-Beck

Hammer of God

(Alex Hunter #5.5)

by

Greig Beck

 

Hammer of God commences with a nuclear explosion somewhere in Iraq.  Naturally this upset the status quo a coalition peace keeping force was trying to bring to the region.  To exacerbate the situation the last images from the area do not show and sign of an airborne device being used.  The only thing out-of-place is a huge man/person carrying a rather large package on its back right into ground zero.

Major Jack Hammerson and Alex hunter (The Arcadian), join forces with an old ally and Mossad spy Adira Senesh.  They are soon enmeshed in a story of ancient prophecies which appear to be true.

Again Greig Beck has written about the ancients and prophecies of evil and shaped it into a plausible storyline.   However it was not one of his best books I my opinion.  That may be entirely due to the subject of his story which are these giants walking around with nuclear devices strapped to their backs.  It was not until the first explosion that I remembered reading/listening to it about four years ago and I felt I was going through the motions of reading ‘because I had started the book’.  A book needs to be really bad (in my opinion) before I will discard before completing it.  Hammer of God was good enough to listen to a second time, but I find I am liking books which do not have monsters lurking…somewhere these days.  A sign of age?  Maybe.

******

I think

Hammer of God

 

is a

read.

***

In 2018,

Goodreads readers have rated

Hammer of God

 an average of 4.09 stars from

346 ratings and 28 reviews.

I am also surprised that so few have bothered

to rate and review this novel.

 

Hammer of God

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

Booktopia does not have Hammer of God.